Vibratory regulator



July 29, 1924. 1503.214

R. H. SULLIVAN VIBRATING REGULATOR Filed April 17, 192.2

GEPMAN NEGATIVE Risls COEFFICIENT b g I I8 20 2 i I4 l I 5 l l I I l l I1 I o 32 "i 7 lFngoll TUNGSTEN Patented July 29, 1924.

UNITED STATES 1,503,214 PATENT OFFICE.

RAYMOND H. SULLIVAN, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO NORTH EAST OFROCHESTER, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

'. 1- Application filed "A i-1,17; 1022. Seria1N0.553,910.

To all whom itmay '1 Be it known that I, RAYMOND lowingtobefafull,*clear, and 'ezract description of, the invention, such-, a'ill enable 1o others skilled ".finfthearli Qj' 'wh it 'appertains tomake andus'e the sin This invention relates to re v as .are commonlyused in connection ,with electric generators, of the-rtyper wherein the"current flowing through a: field-winding of the generator is-variedhymeans of a pair-of contacts which are" engaged and disengaged by arapid vvibratory movement.

Regulatorsof the type 'in question,- which may be designated broadly'asvibratory regulators,- are necessarilyflprovided with contactsconsisting of material sufficiently refractoryto withstand the arcingand heating resulting fromthe--frequerit interruption of thefield-current The movement of the contacts is generally produced orcontrolled by an electromagnet energized by the enerated 1 current, andarranged to be control ed in accordance with either the intensity, orthe ..voltage ,ofthe cur-rent, or by some function of the-two. Inregulators of this type difficulty is en.-

' countered both through .the burning and sticking of the contacts, andthrough changes in the resistance of the ma et-winding due to heatcommunicated to t e winding from the contacts. Todiminish the firstdifiiculty it has been proposed to use carbon as the material of thecontacts, but this tends to accentuate the second trouble, since moreheat is generated in carbon contacts than in contactsof metal.

The object of the present invention is broadly, to improve regulators ofthe type in'question in such a manner as to increase the useful life ofthe contacts and to make theregulating action more uniform and reliable;To this end I propose to use contacts consistin' wholly or chiefly ofcarbon or of 5 shunted by a resistance-device, and I have gulatord''such.

other re ractory material ofsimilar char- V ironic-that a device havinga high positive I H. "SULLI VAN, a citizen of theUnited-States;=residiri at Rochesterl,;ili the COHIllEg==QEMQI1TQQ,..1Q, 5 State of New York, have-invented certain-1 new and usefulImprovements im -Vibratory, Regulators; and I do hereby declare are-r 1-tem ature coefiicient of resistance 1s pecaharly. suited f'or -th1spurpose. Vvith such a cornbinationot p arts aregulator may be producedin wln'ch the contacts have an un- ..usua lly long life, while theaction of the regulator is remarkably constant under the mostadversecircumstances. I have Y furtherdisc overed that by the useiofheat-insulating Ill 8211s, associated with the carbon contacts,thctotalamount of heat generated in the contacts; is reduced, owing;'apparently to the reduction in the resistance oi the contacts due-totheir negative temperature coeflicient of resistance. Y Y a i In theaccompanying drawings Fig. 1 is a side-elevation, partly in section, ofa'regula tor embodying the present invention. Fig.

2 is a plan-view of the same regulator with out its casing and mounting;and Fig. 3. is a diagram showing the preferred circuit connections ofthe regulator when used to control the voltage of a enerator.

The invention is il ustrated as embodied in a vibratory electromagneticregulator comprising a'magnet-core 5 and aU-shaped yoke or hee1-iron'7.i To one arm-offthe latter the iro'n'armature 6 'is pivoted, a'ndthemovement of the armature is controlled by a spring j8. The tension ofthe spring may be adjusted by a'sc'rew 9. p

The contacts 10 and 11 controlled by the armature are in the form ofcarbon blocks. The contact 11 is attached to the armature by a strip 12of German silver or of some other material having low heat-conductivity.In the illustrated device the strip 12 also acts as an electricalconnection for the carbon, and for this reason it should be of generouscross-section, as the metals having low heatconductivity, of the orderof that of German silver, have i also low electric conductivity. Thecontact 10 ismounted on. a strip 13 of German silver, and this strip isfixed to one arm of the heel-iron by screws 14, but insulated from theheel-iron. The stri 13 is thick enough to be rigid, but it may be benttoadj st the contact 10 foriaccur'ate engageprising a body 17 and aremovable cover 18. The cover is secured in place by a bolt 19.

' Owing to this enclosure of the regulator the heat generated in thewindings and'the contacts is confined, so that the temperature of thewindings tends to become high during continued use. To compensate forthis the illustrated regulator is provided with a compensating device ofthe kind disclosed in U. S. Patent No. 1,398,463 to Thomas L. Lee. Thisdevice consists of a block 20 of Monel metal which, owing to itsnegative temperature coefficient of magnetic permeability, acts as amagnetic shunt of varying effectiveness, and thus compensates for thechanges in the resistance of the windings.

The Monel-metal shunt, while effective through a certain range oftemperatures, ceases to be efi'ective at a temperature somewhat above212 Fahrenheit. In this respect the use of the German silver supportsfor the contacts is important, since it so far prevents the transmissionof heat from the contacts, as to keep the temperature of the other partsof the instrument within the range at which the compensating-device iseffective.

To prevent radiation of heat from the contacts to the magnet, a shield21 of nonconductive material may be interposed between the magnet andthe contacts, as shown in Fig, 1.

The tungsten lamp 22 which is preferably used as ashunt resistancedevice, is enclosed in a casing 23 entirely distinct from that of thevibratory relay, so that heat from the lamp cannot affect the magnet.The two casings are mounted on a commonbase or panel-member 24, whichmay be attached to a vertical surface, such as that of the dash-board ofa motor-vehicle.

The electrical connections of the apparatus are shown in Fig. 3. Thegenerator 25 which is to be regulated has two main brushes 26 and 27 anda third or auxiliary brush 28 through which the shunt field-winding 29is energized. The main brushes are connected, through main conductors 30and 31, with a. storage-battery or other load (not shown). The relay isshown as arranged to maintain substantially unifornrvoltage in the mainconductors,

' being provided with a high-resistance winding 32 connected across themain conductors through wires 33 and 34. The armature is connected by awire 35 with the wire 33,

and the contact 10 is connected, through a wire 36, with thefield-winding. The circuit of the field-winding is thus normally completed, to the main brush 26, through the wires 36, 35, 33 and 30 andthe contacts 10, 11 of the -regulator. Whenever the voltage rises abovethe predetermined amount the contacts separate momentarily, thusintroducing resistance into the circuit of the field-winding. Thecurrent is thus partially diverted through the lamp 22, which isconnected in series with the field-winding by means of a wire 38, v

To insure steady vibratory action of the regulator, it is provided witha second winding 37 which is connected in shunt with the contacts and inopposition with the winding 32. This winding 37 acts, in a well knownmanner, to limit the amplitude of the movement of the armature 6.

While a tungsten lamp has been found particularly efl'ective as aresistance-device in connection with a relay having the particularcharacteristics of that herein described, the use of the lamp, or of anyresistance-device, is not essential to the invention in its broaderaspects, and the invention is not limited in general, to the details ofthe embodiment herein described.

The invention claimed is:

1'. A vibratory regulator, having contacts of which at least oneconsists of material with a negative temperature eoefiicient ofresistance, and a support, for such contact, consisting of material oflow heat-conductivity whereby rise in the temperature of the contactduring operation is promoted.

2. In a vibratory regulator, the combination of a carbon contact, and-asupport therefor consisting of metal having a low heat-conductivity ofthe order of that of German silver.

3. In a vibratory regulator, the combination, with actuating meanscomprising an electromagnet and its armature, of contacts controlledthereby of which at least one consists of carbon; and a-support, forsaid contact, mounted on an element of said actuating means andconsisting of material of low heat-conductivity.

closing the magnet, the armature and the contacts; and meansiorshielding the magnet from heat generated in the contacts.

6. In a vibratory regulator, the combination, with a magnet and itsarmature, of

carbon contacts controlled thereby; a casing enclosing the magnet, thearmature and the contacts; and means for restricting the heat generatedin the contacts to the vicinity of the contacts.

7. In a vibratory regulator, the combination, with a magnet and itsarmature, of carbon contacts controlled thereby; a casing enclosing themagnet, the armature and the contacts; means for restricting conductionof heat from the contacts; and a resistancedevice shunting the contactsbut located outside said casing.

8. In a vibratory regulator, the combination, with a magnet and itsarmature, of carbon contacts controlled thereby; heatinsulating supportsfor the contacts; a casing enclosing the magnet, the armature and thecontacts; and a resistance-device 10 with a high temperature coefficientof resistance, shunting the contacts and located outside the casin RAY0ND H. SULLIVAN.

